Social media, in particular Facebook, is a bit like a social thermometer. If you want to get a feel for popular thought patterns, sample some of Facebook’s meme traffic and status updates. It will give you a good idea of major trends in popular thought. Most of the time, checking Facebook feels about as inspiring and refreshing as stepping into a crowded public swimming pool on a hot summer’s day. You know it’s gross, but once you’re in you find that you stay in because it’s only slightly less comfortable than getting out. That state lasts until your morbid sense of curiosity is finally overwhelmed by the rising tide of revulsion at the mysterious yellow stains, phlegm nuggets and frothy drifts. At least the chlorine masks the other odours. I think I may have just figured out why we climbed out of the primal ocean to begin with.

What I have noticed in popular media is that personality quizzes are always very popular. The type of quizzes that provide the user with a sense of identity or belonging. Of course, most are clearly absurd. I have no personal interest in knowing what ancient Greek god or mythical creature I am, or what character in Game of Thrones most accurately matches me. Needless to say that these quizzes are a Pointless Waste Of Time (PWOT). Only one step removed from a FWOT. I suppose it’s a bit of fun, but it does point out the very real need for most people to find out who they are and to feel as though they are part of something bigger than themselves.

In the light of this very real need for self-knowledge and subsequent to my previous article entitled ‘Should I stay or should I go now?’, I have decided to provide a personality quiz that may be of value to those of you who wish to know more about yourselves. I can absolutely guarantee that it will be of more personal value to you than knowing what power you would have if you were comic book superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

If you choose to participate, it is important that you answer all of the questions as honestly as you can. Dishonesty in this process will be of no benefit to you personally. Some of the quiz involves statements instead of questions. In these cases, rate the applicability of the statement to yourself. Some of the quiz involves descriptions of scenarios along with your personal reaction to the scenario. Rate the applicability of the described reaction based on what you feel you would do in the situation.

Please make an effort to mentally experience these scenarios as viscerally as possible. Experience the scene visually but combine the visual experience with sound, dialogue, smell, touch, feel, taste. If your heart is not beating at an elevated rate during your visualisation of these scenarios, your answers will be of no use to you because you have not experienced the situation as if you were really there. Note that these scenarios are not testing your conditioned self-defence response, they are testing your natural response. In other words, the described reactions to the scenarios do not represent tactically sound self-defence responses.

Some of the questions require you to know something about your past. They may require some input from people who knew you as a child.

Remember that you are who you are. Regardless of whether or not you manipulate the results of this quiz to suit your expectations of yourself, you will still be who you are.

Your results will remain confidential although we will record them for further analysis. We will not post your results although you are most welcome to post your own score up if you wish. I am hoping to get some good statistics together from the results. From these results, I hope to be able to draw a few conclusions which I will publish in a later article, so please do spread this article around to anyone who might be interested in participating.

To end this quiz, it is important to stress that this result holds far less weight than your actual real-world experiences. Think back on how you dealt with actual threats in the past. Did you Fight, did you Flee or did you Freeze? Understanding your natural response based on past experience can give you a far better approximation. The main purpose of this quiz was to stimulate your thinking about who you really are and how you react naturally to situations.